Formative period

From prehistoric times, dances have served as an intermediary between humans and the gods in Japan. Kagura dances dedicated to native deities and performed at the imperial court or in villages before local Shintō shrines are in essence a symbolic reenactment of the propitiatory dance that lured the sun goddess Amaterasu from the cave in ancient myth. Although kagura dance has been influenced by later more sophisticated dance forms, it is still performed much as it was 1,500 years ago, to religious chants accompanied by drums, brass gongs, and flutes. At the same time, villagers had their rice-planting dances, performed either at New Year’s as a prayer for good planting or during the planting season in early summer. These lively dances were later, in the 14th century, brought to the cities and performed as court entertainment and called dengaku (“field music”).

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